Indiana’s Senate yesterday passed—and Governor Mitch Daniels (R) signed—the state’s long-awaited right-to-work law, making it the 23rd state in the nation and the first state in the union-heavy Rust Belt to give workers the right to choose whether or not to pay union dues. Meanwhile, 1,700 miles away, Arizona is considering a bill that would restore voter control over government by, among other measures, stripping government unions of their collective bargaining power. Indiana’s move is a victory for the state’s workers—and the state’s economy. Now Hoosiers cannot be forced to …
Indiana lawmakers are bracing for another high-profile fight over a right-to-work bill when the legislative session opens Wednesday. Last year Democrats fled the state in protest, preventing the legislature from conducting business for five weeks. The right-to-work bill would end forced unionization for private-sector workers in Indiana. Its supporters say the bill would increase jobs and choices in the Midwestern state with a 9 percent unemployment rate. Unions complain it threatens their existence. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) is speaking out in favor of the bill, even recording a 60-second …
A new poll from the Manhattan Institute reveals 77 percent of Hoosiers rate Indiana’s government as “efficient.” That’s the highest percentage of any state surveyed and a stark contrast to neighboring Illinois’ 23 percent. Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN), now serving in his seventh year as the state’s CEO, has clearly left his mark on Indiana. This year, with Republicans in control of the state legislature, he’s continued to reform government, enacting landmark education reforms. Daniels shared stories of his policy accomplishments in a wide-ranging speech last week at Heritage. He’s …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe Blind to the mullah’s missile menace – Peter Brookes, The New York Post Herman Cain Takes On Morgan Freeman For Calling Tea Party Racist – Noel Sheppard, NewsBusters Obama Lies about the ‘Do-Nothing Congress’ – Deroy Murdock, National Review Online Obama’s Ill-advised NCLB Waivers – Lindsey Burke, National Review Online Congress makes no progress on keeping government afloat – Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times Christine Lagarde: IMF may need billions …
Yesterday, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) signed into law legislation to implement the nation’s largest school voucher program. And this week, the Governor visited Washington, D.C., to highlight his education reform agenda, which is rooted in the belief that those closest to students know them best—a fact which should drive education policy. In his speech at the American Enterprise Institute May 4, Daniels outlined the four major elements of the state’s education reforms: expanding school choice, increasing school accountability, improving teacher quality, and limiting the stranglehold collective bargaining has had …
On Thursday, the Indiana Senate approved what could become the nation’s largest school voucher program. If signed by Governor Mitch Daniels (R), the plan will allow Indiana children throughout the state to use a scholarship to attend a private school of their choice. The proposal, which has already made it through the Indiana House once, must now go back to the House of Representatives since the Senate enhanced the bill’s school choice options by adding a $1,000 tax deduction to the measure to help parents pay for private school or …
The last few weeks have brought a flurry of exciting policy reforms from the Midwest. In Indiana, a variety of new proposals aims to benefit students, teachers, and families. Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN) is lending his support to a proposal to create scholarships for low- and moderate-income students in the state. The scholarship program would allow low-income families to receive as much as 90 percent of the cost of educating a child in a public school to be put toward tuition at a private school of their choice. Although there …
States have a lot to lose under Obamacare. Beyond representing a huge overreach of Congress’s constitutional authority, the new law includes several provisions that restrict states’ ability to reform their health care systems in ways that best serve residents’ specific needs. Obamacare requires all states to extend eligibility for Medicaid to an additional 18 million citizens. This will have serious implications for state budgets, which are already stretched thin by the cost of the program. The law also requires that states set up health insurance exchanges, for which the rules …
In 2007, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) passed the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) which helps Hoosiers who do not qualify for Medicaid to enroll in individual health-savings accounts. The program was so popular that the state had to suspend enrollment (because of federal regulations) a number of times. Today there are about 45,000 Hoosiers enrolled in the plan. It is a model of state-based patient-centered health care reform. But now Obamacare is, of course, threatening to destroy this system. The Evansville Courier & Press reports: Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to …
As the House of Representatives prepares to vote on repealing Obamacare next week, several governors have emerged as the law’s leading critics. Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) is one of them. “There’s obviously real sentiment in the country for repealing this bill — for the colossal mistake that it was,” Daniels said in an exclusive interview with The Heritage Foundation. Daniels sat down with Heritage last year to explain the challenges facing Indiana as a result of Obamacare. Chief among them: the likely demise of the Healthy Indiana Plan, a program …
